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Servants at Work Inc. (2024) Print
2024 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Housing
└ Innovative home maintenance, repair and support services
└ Innovative home maintenance, repair and support services
Lower-income residents with long-term mobility disabilities faced isolation and risked losing independence without safe home access. The organization installed three durable wheelchair ramps, enabling clients to reach medical care and remain in their homes. These ramps, expected to last a decade or more, restore freedom and reduce reliance on family or assisted living. "There is nothing like seeing the joy in the face of an individual that has regained freedom they may not have had for years," said a supporter, underscoring the project's lasting impact on safety and dignity.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
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Mount Vernon, ME
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Innovative home maintenance, repair and support services
Description: To help older adults remain in their homes, the Mount Vernon Community Partnership Coalition created a tool library stocked with home repair and gardening tools. A subsequent grant allowed the tool library to move out of the town office's basement to an adjacent shed for ease of storage and tool accessibility. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the opening of the tool library, but once it did open, the gardening tools proved most popular. The Coalition recently relocated the shed and turned over tool library operations to the local Grange, which focuses on gardening and growing food. Adjacent communities also sought out the Coalition's experience to evaluate opening their own tool library.
Jacksonville, FL
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2026
Project Category: Innovative home maintenance, repair and support services
Description: Volunteers and partners will complete critical home repairs and landscape improvements for ten households. The service day will help residents remain safe and independent at home.
Charleston, WV
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Innovative home maintenance, repair and support services
Description: This project assisted low-income older adults with home repairs and maintenance, allowing them to safely age in place in their homes. Faith in Action's Honey Do Crews preformed a variety of tasks for older adults in Kanawha and Putnam Counties, from changing lightbulbs to repainting porches. In total, grant funds supported 16 projects. One participant was living in a home with a flimsy, glass patio door installed where a proper front door should have been. To lock the door, she would insert a broom handle across the doorway. Faith in Action purchased a new door with a deadbolt and a volunteer installed it. "I feel like I've been released from prison," the homeowner said. "I love my new door."
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Fredericksburg, VA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2026
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: The initiative will create an accessible mulch trail and community garden beds within a protected natural area. These improvements will open a previously hard-to-reach space, allowing residents to enjoy gardening and walking in a safer setting.
Fairfax County, VA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Access to health care services
Description: When the COVID-19 pandemic made in-person medical appointments risky, CFH wanted to help local older adults make the most of online sessions with their health providers. To do this, CFH distributed telehealth kits to residents of Herndon Harbor House, a senior housing complex, allowing them to measure their vital signs at home. Each kit contained a digital thermometer and a wrist device that measures blood pressure. To ensure recipients could operate the devices, CFH included written instructions in several languages.
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